1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic equipment docks and more particularly to a method for silencing a phone using a docking unit that can dock a wide variety of cellular telephones.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Portable devices, speakers and docks for portable electronic equipment such as digital media and audio players, including so-called MP-3 players, are known in art and have been very popular with consumers. Such devices have ranged dramatically in price, quality and functionality. The simplest have been battery or wall-powered speakers connected to the portable player solely by a 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack. Recently, more advanced devices have come into the market with proprietary connectors that allow charging and control of the device as well as providing speakers. Some of these devices have had remote controls.
The demand for devices has continued to increase with the proliferation of digital and portable media applications and services that have been incorporated into cellular telephones, particularly a new type of so-called “smartphones” that offer computer-like power and functionality. The capability of these devices has increased to include a variety of new applications and services including, but not limited to, streaming music and media services, which operate to provide online radio, on-demand and streaming music and recommendation services as well as on-demand and streaming video, TV and movie entertainment. One common application for such phones is as a replacement for an alarm clock.
It would be particularly advantageous to have a universal docking device that would allow a simplified means for silencing the phone in a way that still allows urgent notifications to get through.
It would be advantageous to have a dock that also provides visual notifications that allow users to see, at a glance, which non urgent notifications have been received.
It would be advantageous if such silencing schemes were easily customizable by the user based on their personal preferences.
Prior art docks generally have lacked integration with phones that allowed silencing the phones as well as providing visual notifications.
While other “do not disturb” features exist in the prior art smartphones, they suffer from the following shortcomings: In one case, they require triggering by setting a daily time to go into “do not disturb mode” of course, this does not allow for changes in daily schedules, nor does it allow for unanticipated periods where the user may desire that their phones go into such a mode, such as taking a nap, attending a meeting or undertaking an activity that requires uninterrupted concentration. In another case, it may require manually initiating the mode, which has two problems, first, it requires navigating through phone menus and interfaces, which is often time consuming. Second, it requires the user to remember to do go through that same process to end the “do not disturb” period, the failure to do so means that the user will miss calls and notifications after the intended “do not disturb” period has ended. Furthermore, it is often the case, that a user desires a way to have some feel for what notifications have been missed while the phone is silenced. In other words, something that allows them to see at a glance the status of missed notifications without actually being interrupted by them. Finally, the prior art offers users the ability to designate a certain list of callers who's calls will always ring the phone, even when in “do not disturb” mode. However, this method is inadequate to discriminate between urgent and non urgent calls since it's often the case that any given caller will call or send messages that vary in level of urgency. A second method that has been employed is to allow repeat calls made in close sequence to override the “do not disturb” mode. For example, if a caller calls twice within 3 minutes, the phone will ring. Calling repeatedly in close sequence is often a proxy for the urgency of the message, but not always. Furthermore, not all callers will anticipate that calling a second time will initiate this special function, and without this knowledge, they may be loathe to call repeatedly on the presumption that the unanswered first call was an indication that the recipient was unable to receive the call, and a second call would provide no additional useful function.